The present invention is directed to a video signal processing system, and more particularly to a high speed video signal processing system for decoding, verifying and reporting data related to barcode labels.
Barcode labels are widely used to track goods as they are distributed. Printing barcode labels requires high quality printing processes, which despite advancements in printing technologies, are subject to quality variations. This is particularly a concern where the printing machine prints barcode labels at very high speeds. The quality of a printed barcode label depends upon various factors including symbol contrast, decodability, modulation, edge definition, opacity and the presence of spots or voids. Poor print quality of the barcode label will cause the label to be misread or not read at all when an end user attempts to read the barcode label. Certain standards are set by the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) for the quality of barcode labels which barcode label manufacturers must follow. A grade is assigned to a barcode label by ANSI. The ANSI grade for a barcode label is based upon mathematical formulas describing parameters of a barcode label.
Accordingly, it is important to monitor the output of a high speed barcode printing machine in order to make adjustments in the printing apparatus when necessary to maintain a desirable quality or grade of the barcode labels. Traditional barcode verification systems measure the quality of a barcode image one line at a time, and thus are slow and not as accurate. A faster barcode image processing system which decodes and verifies barcodes using a video signal has been developed, and is the subject of commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/486,159, filed Jun. 7, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,030.
The present invention is directed to improvements in a barcode image processing system to enable very high speed processing of data representing images of barcode labels and/or to objectively measure the quality of a barcode label in real time.